GD 260

Data Visualization: This graph used for by FOX news during the early months of the pandemic shows us how scared we were during the first months and the coloring on this graph is really jarring to me. The dark background and the red tones and the rising chart showing no slowing down (and it didn’t, god bless america) was used here to really amplify the fear factor around covid-19. I wouldn’t say this infographic is lying, nor attempting to manipulate info, but it is manipulating emotions and targeting our limbic response system, likely from a cannon bard perspective which brings out a visceral, immediate reaction of “danger” that really makes me feel unwell.

Rhythm: The state news journal advert has a very specific taste that is accomplished through the rhythm of its serif design. Not included are the newspapers that had a consistency of the same serif font that flows through the entire journal, placing importance with middle indent titles.

Typographic hierarchy: The recycling posters were found next to the state journal advert, and they cover the idea of hierarchy quite well. Immediately anyone can recognize the text from afar, knowledgeable now of where to deposit their waste, and upon coming closer to do so, they might be able to read more info about what kind of recyclables are allowed and not allowed. 

Ascender: I like how the ascenders in Skyvue’s journal follow an almost perfect symmetry with their ascenders, with some exceptions like the ‘k’, which gives it a more humanistic feel

Descender: This one was hard to find, not many fonts like to use descenders, rarely were they around in posters, but this sanitation station included manty descenders in the lower case letters.

Counter: This paper towel dispenser had many round, counter shapes in the letters, notably a lower case ‘e’ is used when normally it would likely be occupied by an uppercase ‘E’. Gives it a soft feel, while staying formal, makes me feel like they’re green or something.

Crossbar: The ‘A’ in ‘Catan’ splits the letter in half, x-height and ascender height is somewhat equatorial.

Large X-Height: The font used for this calendar features very tall X-height that makes the ascenders feel squished, and somewhat forced and rushed. This makes all the characters feel very tall, and the font has some sense of masculinity to it.

Small x-Height: Rubbermaid features a smaller x height than most examples I found, making it stand out as unique. The ascenders of the letters take up a lot of the room of the font, making them seemingly tower over the rest of the word, which feels somewhat harmonious, as the first and last letters both become the tallest letters in the word, and feature characters with ‘mirror’ image shoulders (the R and the d).

Modernist: The STOP sign has a very simplistic, sans-serif appeal that seems to stand out quite well. It cements itself very sternly, and has become a universal symbol. Modernists would classify this as modern design due to the lack of serif and prominent use of negative space (the red background contributes a lot to the connotation of the font)

Complementary Colors: The clorox bottle is utilizing contrasting colors through complements. The primary cool hues of green/blue complement the bright RED!!! colors that outline the two important parts of the bottle: outlining the logo, and establishing the effectiveness of the germicidal wipes with stats.

Analogous Colors: The colors on this energy formula are likely there to muddle the attention of the eyes on details that all come together to contribute to the same message: this powder gives you energy. BLENDING of words widely understood like caffeine with ones less known like dynamine solidify the fact that all the ingredients in this formula are used to create energy and work synergistically. 

Cool Colors: Cool colors are especially effective to communicate a soothing or pleasurable stimulus, and especially in this case effectively. The green transparent bottle with cool hues used to complement the white lettering is even more obvious when the context of the bottle is directly saying that the gel is moisturizing. The red color that appears is the only delineation in this trend, used to denote the sanitary component of the hand sanitizer. I think this is the best design I found as it was so effective in matching the sensory context with its visual design!

Warm Colors: This is the third example of a sanitation product, and acts to foil the previous one mentioned. This one is very loud and uses bright, warm colors to effectively do so. The whole of the product seems to be much more focused on the fact that this wipe will obliterate any germs it comes into contact with by boldly advertising the number “99.9%.” I wouldn’t likely buy this product to use on my skin, but would for my counters, as it’s intended for!

Contrast to emphasize: I noticed the probiotic bottle I bought used colors very sparingly, only as backdrops and in minimal amounts of text. The colors that do appear also are limited and complement each other distinctly. The large text in orange denotes a number of cultures in the bottle, and then the number of capsules in said bottle, both with orange in mind. Then, the blue background contrasts the immediate numerical info with some background context about what the numbers mean. It’s a vibrational experience that makes the product seem very professional.

Gestalt; Proximity: The board I own is pretty beat up, but it always stood out to me as a unique design. The principle of continuity is very subtle here, but after some thought, I saw it plain as day. The singular letters spell out a sort of abbreviation of “Weekend,” and the reason we process it this way is not only the english language, but the fact that we don’t read “WNKD” due the the proximity of the W and the K with one another atop the square, and the N and D inside of it. Pretty clever.

Active Figure Ground: This design trope was hard to find, and the best I could find was the indie graphic tee I bought a while ago. The black space on the shirt acts as the empty space that becomes part of the design, and blends into the figure to accentuate the text. The chiaroscuro elements are important in the aspect of negative spacing, and coordinate focal attention.

Image 1- License plate: Now that I think about it, it’s designed very carefully! The splash in the background pictures famous structures of michigan, using a very light values. The contrast here is the elevation (texture) of the plate numbers compared with the rest of the metal plate. I know color should be left out, but black is only used for important info relevant for the legal system!

Image 2- Very simple title graphic for Lyman Briggs College. The contrast is within itself, appearing elevated with the wall, it contrasts. The text ‘College’ also appears more spaced out according the the ‘Lyman Briggs.’ 

Image 3- This absolute mess of a map has almost no selective contrast, which makes it a lot harder to read than image 4. It almost appears alarming to the eye, it uses symbols listed on the left that appear throughout the map, marking the locations of important utilities such as emergency phone.

Image 4 - This map of Lyman Briggs is much more position oriented, it uses a combination of symbols and text to convey information about the floor. The contrast here lies in symbols vs words. Symbols are used for universal locations such as bathrooms, while text is used for classes. 

Image 1- Playing Cards: Symmetric design in the central compass of this playing deck stays true only for a split moment, as the general shape is symmetric, but upon closer examination, it is revealed how the details are highly asymmetric in nature, creating a sense of juxtaposition.

Image 2- Grocery Bag: This Aldi shopping bag exposes a bright, vibrant green, with accent colors on the shapes which form a rectangular shape around the rectangular logo. This harmony works to make the bag stand out more than the logo, while guiding the eyes towards the center.

Image 3- MCAT Review Books: These books have more text than visuals, as the text supersedes-the imagery in the background, which merely acts as a splash to the foreground text.

Image 4- Munn Ice Arena Cup: I love this design! The way they incorporated “SPARTANS” wrapping around the cup with various figure, such as Mel Tucker and the spartan logo. All the colors stay in the same range to create a harmonic color scheme.